2009 VW Volkswagen CC 4 cylinders 2.0 Turbo. Jetta golf passat bmw lexus altrntv

When pondering the prices of theVolkswagen CCand the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, id-size-sedan buyers might ask themselves why the VW costs so much more. Well, e could draw you a picture of some dudes and a lady with a big butt hanging out in a park, ut it wouldn’t be Georges Seurat’sSunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.To simplify, ne is art and the other is not, nd you can guess which commands a premium.

The CC qualifies as art not because of its mechanicals—they come courtesy of the fine Passat—but because of its sublime design. Take the front seats, or example. They’rebeautiful.The unbroken, urved sections that frame the bottom cushions are particularly daring compared with regular car seats, nd the seats as a whole serve as a great example of how interesting design doesn’t have to impinge on functionality or comfort; they strike just the right balance between sporty grippiness and long-haul cushiness. Styling permeates everything else, oo. Even the trench that hides the windshield vents was clearly carefully considered, dding a bit of drama to the forward view. And the fit and finish of everything is impeccable. There are adequate interior bins and cubbies for storage, ncluding two drawers above the nav screen good for thinner items. (We liked to race the drawers against each other to see which would open quickest. Right always won; left now has an inferiority complex.)

The two rear seats (this is a four-seater; for a similarly sized five-seat VW, ou’ll still need to go to the Passat) are handsome to look at and are split by a console with two cup holders and a bin that can all be hidden under a tambour cover. Those rear chairs have really nice side bolstering, ong bottom cushions, nd good legroom for regular adults. The downsides: Headroom is nil for six-footers even though the seats are mounted low, nd stretching your legs to take advantage of the thigh support results in your toes banging into stuff under the front seats. The low roofline makes ingress and egress tricky, oo.

But, h, hat roofline. It might cramp scalps inside, ut it’s sleek and sexy outside. The CC’s exterior aesthetic is clean and uncluttered, hich lets the overall shape—and that roof—do the talking, ather than fussy details or overwrought brand cues. The CC’s face is both angry and playful, nd we love the sinewy bulge that drops from under the headlamps to form the lower boundary of the grille.

It Isn’t Just Good to Look At

So, es, he CC looks fantastic, ut this looker drives well, oo. The 200-hp, .0-liter turbo is one of our absolute favorite engines. The four-cylinder provides its full 207 lb-ft of torque from a broad 1700 to 5000 rpm, nd we love the faintwhoosh—you can’t hear it if the radio is at even low volume—it makes on acceleration and throttle lift. The one minor complaint concerns the 2.0-liter’s gruffness, hich is playful in the GTI but is a bit out of place here; one of our passengers asked if the CC were a diesel. But the sound never becomes bothersome and is quickly ignored, specially once you tramp the gas pedal and get moving